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Abstract
Cultural diversity is disappearing quickly. Whilst a phylogenetic approach makes explicit the continuous extinction of cultures, and the generation of new ones, cultural evolutionary changes such as the rise of agriculture or more recently colonisation can cause periods of mass cultural extinction. At the current rate, 90% of languages will become extinct or moribund by the end of this century. Unlike biological extinction, cultural extinction does not necessarily involve genetic extinction or even deaths, but results from the disintegration of a social entity and discontinuation of culture-specific behaviours. Here we propose an analytical framework to examine the phenomenon of cultural extinction. When examined over millennia, extinctions of cultural traits or institutions can be studied in a phylogenetic comparative framework that incorporates archaeological data on ancestral states. Over decades or centuries, cultural extinction can be studied in a behavioural ecology framework to investigate how the fitness consequences of cultural behaviours and population dynamics shift individual behaviours away from the traditional norms. Frequency-dependent costs and benefits are key to understanding both the origin and the loss of cultural diversity. We review recent evolutionary studies that have informed cultural extinction processes and discuss avenues of future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanzhi Zhang
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
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2
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Dunbar RIM. Structure and function in human and primate social networks: implications for diffusion, network stability and health. Proc Math Phys Eng Sci 2020; 476:20200446. [PMID: 32922160 PMCID: PMC7482201 DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2020.0446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The human social world is orders of magnitude smaller than our highly urbanized world might lead us to suppose. In addition, human social networks have a very distinct fractal structure similar to that observed in other primates. In part, this reflects a cognitive constraint, and in part a time constraint, on the capacity for interaction. Structured networks of this kind have a significant effect on the rates of transmission of both disease and information. Because the cognitive mechanism underpinning network structure is based on trust, internal and external threats that undermine trust or constrain interaction inevitably result in the fragmentation and restructuring of networks. In contexts where network sizes are smaller, this is likely to have significant impacts on psychological and physical health risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, New Radcliffe Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX1 6GG, UK
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3
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Carney J. Thinking avant la lettre: A Review of 4E Cognition. EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES IN IMAGINATIVE CULTURE 2020; 4:77-90. [PMID: 32457930 DOI: 10.26613/esic/4.1.172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The "4E" approach to cognition argues that cognition does not occur solely in the head, but is also embodied, embedded, enacted, or extended by way of extra-cranial processes and structures. Though very much in vogue, 4E cognition has received relatively few critical evaluations. By reflecting on two recent collections, this article reviews the 4E paradigm with a view to assessing its strengths and weaknesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Carney
- Department of Arts and Humanities / Centre for Culture and Evolution
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4
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Laakasuo M, Rotkirch A, van Duijn M, Berg V, Jokela M, David-Barrett T, Miettinen A, Pearce E, Dunbar R. Homophily in Personality Enhances Group Success Among Real-Life Friends. Front Psychol 2020; 11:710. [PMID: 32431638 PMCID: PMC7212830 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Personality affects dyadic relations and teamwork, yet its role among groups of friends has been little explored. We examine for the first time whether similarity in personality enhances the effectiveness of real-life friendship groups. Using data from a longitudinal study of a European fraternity (10 male and 15 female groups), we investigate how individual Big Five personality traits were associated with group formation and whether personality homophily related to how successful the groups were over 1 year (N = 147-196). Group success was measured as group performance/identification (adoption of group markers) and as group bonding (using the inclusion-of-other-in-self scale). Results show that individuals' similarity in neuroticism and conscientiousness predicted group formation. Furthermore, personality similarity was associated with group success, even after controlling for individual's own personality. Especially higher group-level similarity in conscientiousness was associated with group performance, and with bonding in male groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Laakasuo
- Department of Digital Humanities, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Rotkirch
- Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Max van Duijn
- Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Venla Berg
- Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Helsinki, Finland
- Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Jokela
- Department of Digital Humanities, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tamas David-Barrett
- Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
- Trinity College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Väestöliitto Population Research Institute, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Eiluned Pearce
- Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robin Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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5
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Voorhees B, Read D, Gabora L. Identity, Kinship, and the Evolution of Cooperation. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1086/708176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Colleran H. Market integration reduces kin density in women's ego-networks in rural Poland. Nat Commun 2020; 11:266. [PMID: 31937789 PMCID: PMC6959218 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-14158-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
It is widely assumed that as populations become more market integrated the 'inner circles' of people's social networks become less densely connected and family-oriented. This 'loosening' of kin networks may fundamentally alter the social dynamics of reproduction, facilitating demographic transitions to low fertility. Few data exist to test this hypothesis. Previous research in urbanized populations has not explicitly measured kin density in ego-networks, nor assessed how market integration influences network structure at different levels of aggregation. Here I analyze the ego-networks of ~2000 women in 22 rural Polish communities transitioning from subsistence farming to market-dependence. I compare how ego-network size, density and kin density co-vary with household and community-level market integration. Market integration is associated with less kin-dense networks, but not necessarily less dense ones, and is unrelated to network size. Declining kin density during economic transitions may be a critical mechanism for the broader cultural transmission of low fertility values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi Colleran
- BirthRites Independent Research Group, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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Carney J, Robertson C, Dávid-Barrett T. Fictional narrative as a variational Bayesian method for estimating social dispositions in large groups. JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 93:102279. [PMID: 31853151 PMCID: PMC6894341 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmp.2019.102279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Revised: 08/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/29/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Modelling intentions in large groups is cognitively costly. Not alone must first order beliefs be tracked ('what does A think about X?'), but also beliefs about beliefs ('what does A think about B's belief concerning X?'). Thus linear increases in group size impose non-linear increases in cognitive processing resources. At the same time, however, large groups offer coordination advantages relative to smaller groups due to specialisation and increased productive capacity. How might these competing demands be reconciled? We propose that fictional narrative can be understood as a cultural tool for dealing with large groups. Specifically, we argue that prototypical action roles that are removed from real-world interactions function as interpretive priors in a form of variational Bayesian inference, such that they allow estimations can be made of unknown social motives. We offer support for this claim in two ways. Firstly, by evaluating the existing literature on narrative cognition and showing where it anticipates a variational model; and secondly, by simulation, where we show that an agent-based model naturally converges on a set of social categories that resemble narrative across a wide range of starting points.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Carney
- Brunel University London, Gaskell Building G29, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
| | - Cole Robertson
- Brunel University London, Gaskell Building G29, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
- Center for Language Studies, Radboud University, Netherlands
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Tamás Dávid-Barrett
- Universidad del Desarrollo, Facultad de Gobierno, CICS, Av. Plaza 680, Santiago de Chile, 7610658 Chile
- Trinity College, University of Oxford, OX1 3BH, Oxford, UK
- Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Kalevankatu 16, Helsinki 00101, Finland
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Matsumoto N. Changing relationship between the dead and the living in Japanese prehistory. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0272. [PMID: 30012738 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to propose a new insight on the changing burial practice by regarding it as a part of the cognitive system for maintaining complex social relationships. Development of concentrated burials and their transformation in Japanese prehistory are examined to present a specific case of the changing relationship between the dead and the living to highlight the significance of the dead in sociocultural evolution. The essential feature of the burial practices observed at Jomon sites is the centrality of the dead and their continuous presence in the kinship system. The mortuary practices discussed in this paper represent a close relationship between the dead and the living in the non-hierarchical complex society, in which the dead were not detached from the society, but kept at its core, as a materialized reference of kin networks.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoko Matsumoto
- Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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9
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Abstract
Traditional human societies use two of biology’s solutions to reduce free-riding: by collaborating with relatives, they rely on the mechanism of kin-selection, and by forming highly clustered social kin-networks, they can efficiently use reputation dynamics. Both of these solutions assume the presence of relatives. This paper shows how social networks change during demographic transition. With falling fertility, there are fewer children that could be relatives to one another. As the missing kin are replaced by non-kin friends, local clustering in the social network drops. This effect is compounded by increasing population size, characteristic of demographic transition. The paper also shows that the speed at which reputation spreads in the network slows down due to both falling fertility and increasing group size. Thus, demographic transition weakens both mechanisms for eliminating free-riders: there are fewer relatives around, and reputation spreads slower. This new link between falling fertility and the altered structure of the social network offers novel interpretations of the origins of legal institutions, the Small World phenomenon, the social impact of urbanisation, and the birds-of-a-feather friendship choice heuristic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamas David-Barrett
- Universidad del Desarrollo, Facultad de Gobierno, CICS, Av. Plaza 680, San Carlos de Apoquindo, Las Condes, Santiago de Chile, 7610658, Chile. .,University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. .,Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiellinie 66, D-24105, Kiel, Germany. .,Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Kalevankatu 16, Helsinki, 00101, Finland.
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10
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Dunbar RIM. The Anatomy of Friendship. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:32-51. [PMID: 29273112 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Revised: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 10/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Friendship is the single most important factor influencing our health, well-being, and happiness. Creating and maintaining friendships is, however, extremely costly, in terms of both the time that has to be invested and the cognitive mechanisms that underpin them. Nonetheless, personal social networks exhibit many constancies, notably in their size and their hierarchical structuring. Understanding the processes that give rise to these patterns and their evolutionary origins requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines social and neuropsychology as well as evolutionary biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- R I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, New Richards Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LG, UK.
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11
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Bietti LM, Tilston O, Bangerter A. Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking. Top Cogn Sci 2018; 11:710-732. [PMID: 29954043 PMCID: PMC7379714 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2017] [Revised: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Storytelling represents a key element in the creation and propagation of culture. Three main accounts of the adaptive function of storytelling include (a) manipulating the behavior of the audience to enhance the fitness of the narrator, (b) transmitting survival‐relevant information while avoiding the costs involved in the first‐hand acquisition of that information, and (c) maintaining social bonds or group‐level cooperation. We assess the substantial evidence collected in experimental and ethnographic studies for each account. These accounts do not always appeal to the specific features of storytelling above and beyond language use in general. We propose that the specific adaptive value of storytelling lies in making sense of non‐routine, uncertain, or novel situations, thereby enabling the collaborative development of previously acquired skills and knowledge, but also promoting social cohesion by strengthening intragroup identity and clarifying intergroup relations. Bietti, Tilston and Bangerter take an evolutionary approach towards memory transmission and storytelling, arguing that storytelling plays a central role in the creation and transmission of cultural information. They suggest that storytelling is a vehicle to transmit survival‐related information that helps to avoid the costs involved in the first‐hand acquisition of that information and contributes to the maintenance of social bonds and group‐level cooperation. Furthermore, Bietti et al. argue that, going beyond storytelling’s individualist role of manipulating the audience to enhance fitness of the narrator, that these adaptive functions of storytelling may well be assigned to other forms of language use besides narration (e.g., instructional discourse and argumentation). Based on this evidence, Bietti and colleagues claim that the specific adaptive function of storytelling lies in making sense of non‐routine, uncertain, or novel situations, thereby enabling collective sensemaking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas M Bietti
- Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel
| | - Ottilie Tilston
- Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel
| | - Adrian Bangerter
- Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel
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12
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Abstract
We examine community longevity as a function of group size in three historical, small scale agricultural samples. Community sizes of 50, 150 and 500 are disproportionately more common than other sizes; they also have greater longevity. These values mirror the natural layerings in hunter-gatherer societies and contemporary personal networks. In addition, a religious ideology seems to play an important role in allowing larger communities to maintain greater cohesion for longer than a strictly secular ideology does. The differences in optimal community size may reflect the demands of different ecologies, economies and social contexts, but, as yet, we have no explanation as to why these numbers seem to function socially so much more effectively than other values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Department of Computer Sciences, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Richard Sosis
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-2176, USA
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